low: English has two words low, of which surprisingly the ‘noise made by cattle’ [OE] is the older. It goes back ultimately to the onomatopoeic Indo-European base *klā-. This also produced Latin clārus (which originally meant ‘loud’, and gave English clear and declare), clāmāre ‘cry out’ (source of English acclaim, claim, exclaim, etc), and calāre ‘proclaim, summon’ (source of English council).
It produced a prehistoric Germanic *khlō-, whose only survivor other than English low is Dutch loeien. Low ‘not high’ [12] was borrowed from Old Norse lágr (source also of Swedish låg ‘low’). This goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *lǣgjaz, which was derived from the same base as produced the English verb lie ‘recline’. => acclaim, claim, clear, council, exclaim; lie
low (adj.)
"not high," late 13c., from lah (late 12c.), "not rising much, being near the base or ground" (of objects or persons); "lying on the ground or in a deep place" (late 13c.), from Old Norse lagr "low," or a similar Scandinavian source (compare Swedish låg, Danish lav), from Proto-Germanic *lega- "lying flat, low" (cognates: Old Frisian lech, Middle Dutch lage, Dutch laag "low," dialectal German läge "flat"), from PIE *legh- "to lie" (see lie (v.2)).
Meaning "humble in rank" is from c. 1200; "undignified" is from 1550s; sense of "dejected, dispirited" is attested from 1737; meaning "coarse, vulgar" is from 1759. In reference to sounds, "not loud," also "having a deep pitch," it is attested from c. 1300. Of prices, from c. 1400. In geographical usage, low refers to the part of a country near the sea-shore (c. 1300, as in Low Countries "Holland, Belgium, Luxemburg," 1540s). As an adverb c. 1200, from the adjective.
low (v.)
Old English hlowan "make a noise like a cow," from Proto-Germanic *khlo- (cognates: Middle Dutch loeyen, Dutch loeien, Old Low Franconian luon, Old High German hluojen), from imitative PIE root *kele- (2) "to shout" (see claim (v.)).
low (n.1)
sound made by cows, 1540s, from low (v.).
low (adv.)
early 13c., from low (adj.). Of voices or sounds, from c. 1300.
low (n.2)
"hill," obsolete except in place names, Old English hlaw "hill, mound," especially "barrow," related to hleonian "to lean" (see lean (v.)). Compare Latin clivus "hill" from the same PIE root.
双语例句
1. Solid low-level waste will be disposed of deep underground.
放射性水平低的固体废料将做地下深埋处理。
来自柯林斯例句
2. Doctor believed that his low sperm count was the problem.
医生认为他的精子数太低是问题所在。
来自柯林斯例句
3. With a low-pitched rumbling noise, the propeller began to rotate.
伴随着隆隆的低沉噪声，螺旋桨开始旋转起来。
来自柯林斯例句
4. We're a bit low on bed linen. You'll have to make do.
我们的床单有些次，您将就着用吧。
来自柯林斯例句
5. The official number of people carrying the AIDS virus is low.
